


A nice trip to the forest

by rivkat



Category: Fringe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-25
Updated: 2009-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-05 06:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivkat/pseuds/rivkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For ariadnes_string, prompt: Locked room/trapped/quarantine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A nice trip to the forest

“I think I saw this episode of _The X-Files_,” Peter said, and launched his latest paper airplane. This one looked more like a pterodactyl than a mechanical artifact, actually, and it made it all the way across the room, then looped twice before it drifted gently to the ground.

“I don’t think Mulder and Scully ever faced a challenge like Walter,” Olivia noted, watching the elder Bishop through the glass of their temporary prison. He was moving his hands in and out, as if he were squeezing a big, invisible ball. For all she knew, that was exactly what he was doing. “Tell me, Peter: do you really think we’re infectious?”

Peter glanced over at her—she’d noticed that about him, this split-second emotional temperature-taking he did, and not just with her but with anyone whose help he thought he might need. And Peter liked to keep his options open, so that meant just about anyone they met. He wasn’t at all obvious about it, but she did wonder sometimes what he really thought about her, or about anyone really. Other than Walter, as to whom Peter’s emotions, while complex, seemed quite readily expressed.

In any event, after ascertaining that Olivia was curious but not overly concerned, Peter gave her question serious consideration. “Engineered viruses are actually _less_ likely to be easily transmissible than naturally occuring ones,” he said. “Unless you start with a truly nasty bug—and there’s no evidence of that here—you’re more likely to end up with an evolutionary dead end, and part of that is a difficulty reproducing. No, my bet is that if we make it another ten hours without bleeding black goo from our eyes we’re safe as houses.”

Outside, Agent Farnsworth ripped off her lab coat and used it to beat out the flames covering the table in front of Walter.

“Well,” Peter said, smiling crookedly, “if Walter doesn’t kill us first, anyway.”


End file.
